Peoria County is located in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

. The 2020 United States census listed its population at 181,830. Its

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

is Peoria. Peoria County is part of the

Peoria metropolitan area The Peoria Metropolitan Statistical Area, as defined by the United States Census Bureau, is an area consisting of six counties in Central Illinois, anchored by the city of Peoria. As of the 2020 census, the area had a population of 402,391 or 3 ...

History

Peoria County was formed in 1825 out of Fulton County. It was named for the Peoria, an

Illiniwek The Illinois Confederation, also referred to as the Illiniwek or Illini, were made up of a loosely organized group of 12 or 13 tribes who lived in the Mississippi River Valley. Eventually, member tribes occupied an area reaching from Lake Mich ...

people who lived there. It included most of the western valley of the Illinois River up to the Chicago river portage.

Gallery timeline

File:Peoria County Illinois 1825.png, Peoria County at creation, with unorganized territory attached to it.White, Jesse. ''Origin and Evolution of Illinois Counties.'' State of Illinois, March 2010.

/ref> File:Peoria County Illinois 1826.png, Peoria County 1826–1827. The newly created Mercer and Warren Counties were temporarily attached to Peoria. File:Peoria County Illinois 1827.png, Peoria County 1827–1830. The creation of Tazewell County left Peoria with only a small tract of unorganized territory east of the Illinois River, whose border was not defined. File:Peoria County Illinois 1830.png, In 1830, Warren County organized a government. File:Peoria County Illinois 1831.png, In 1831, Peoria County's present borders were established and Mercer County was attached to Warren.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, US Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (1.8%) is water. The county is drained by

Spoon River The Spoon River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed May 13, 2011 tributary of the Illinois River in west-central Illinois in the United States. The river drains larg ...

, Kickapoo Creek, Elbow Creek, and Copperas Creek.

Climate and weather

In recent years, average temperatures in the county seat of Peoria have ranged from a low of in January to a high of in July, although a record low of was recorded in January 1884 and a record high of was recorded in July 1936. Average monthly precipitation ranged from in January to in May.

Adjacent counties

* Knox County – northwest * Stark County – north * Marshall County – northeast * Woodford County – east * Tazewell County – south * Fulton County – southwest

Transportation

Transit

Greater Peoria Mass Transit District The Greater Peoria Mass Transit District is a mass transit district based in Peoria, Illinois; the district itself also includes Peoria Heights and West Peoria. It was established in 1970 and, prior to adopting the name CityLink, it was known as ...

Burlington Trailways Burlington Trailways is an intercity bus company based in West Burlington, Iowa. History Burlington Trailways was founded in 1929 as the Burlington Transportation Company, a subsidiary of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad. It started a ...

Peoria Charter Coach Company Peoria Charter Coach Company is a family-owned bus company based in Peoria, Illinois, which provides charter bus services, custom group tours, and transportation from several universities in Illinois to Chicago suburbs and airports. It is a contra ...

List of intercity bus stops in Illinois A list is a set of discrete items of information collected and set forth in some format for utility, entertainment, or other purposes. A list may be memorialized in any number of ways, including existing only in the mind of the list-maker, but ...

Major highways

Interstate 74 Interstate 74 (I-74) is an Interstate Highway in the Midwestern and Southeastern United States. Its western end is at an interchange with I-80 in Davenport, Iowa; the eastern end of its Midwest segment is at an interchange with I-75 in ...

Interstate 474 Interstate 474 (I-474) is an Interstate Highway loop route that provides a southwestern bypass around the north-central Illinois city of Peoria, Illinois, Peoria. I-474's parent Interstate is Interstate 74, I-74. As the first digit of the I ...

U.S. Route 24 U.S. Route 24 or U.S. Highway 24 (US 24) is one of the original United States Numbered Highways of 1926 which runs east and west for most of its routing. It originally ran from Pontiac, Michigan, in the east to Kansas City, Misso ...

U.S. Route 150 U.S. Route 150 (US 150) is a 571-mile (919 km) long northwest–southeast United States highway, signed as east–west. It runs from U.S. Route 6 outside of Moline, Illinois, to U.S. Route 25 in Mount Vernon, Kentucky. Route descripti ...

* Illinois Route 6 *

Illinois Route 8 Illinois Route 8 (IL 8) is an east–west state route in central Illinois. It runs east from Illinois Route 97 south of Maquon to the intersection of U.S. Route 24 (McClugage Avenue) and Business U.S. 24 near Washington. Illinois 8 i ...

Illinois Route 9 Illinois Route 9 (IL 9) is a cross-state, east–west rural state highway in the central part of the U.S. state of Illinois. It travels from Niota at the Fort Madison Toll Bridge, that crosses the Mississippi River into Iowa, eastward across ...

Illinois Route 29 Illinois Route 29 (IL 29) is a two to four lane state highway that runs south from U.S. Route 6/ Illinois Route 89 at Spring Valley to U.S. Route 51/Illinois Route 16 at Pana, running through Pekin, Peoria and Springfield. The nearest major ...

Illinois Route 40 Illinois Route 40 (IL 40) is a north–south route in central portion of the U.S. state of Illinois. It runs from Interstate 74 (I-74) in East Peoria, Illinois, East Peoria north to Illinois Route 78, IL 78 at Mount Carroll, Illinois, Mt. ...

Illinois Route 78 Illinois Route 78 is a major north–south highway in western Illinois. It runs from Illinois Route 104 northwest of Jacksonville north to Highway 78 at the Wisconsin state line north of Warren. This is a distance of . Route descrip ...

Illinois Route 90 Illinois Route 90 (IL 90) is an east–west state highway in northern Peoria County in central Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan t ...

Illinois Route 91 Illinois Route 91 (IL 91) is a rural state route in central Illinois. It runs from the northwest edge of Peoria at U.S. Highway 150 (US 150) to U.S. Highway 34 and Illinois Route 78 south of Kewanee. Illinois 91 is long. Route ...

Illinois Route 116 Illinois Route 116 (IL 116) is a cross-state rural state highway that runs from U.S. Route 34 (US 34) by Gladstone east to the intersection of US 45 (North Front Street) and Old US 45, on the north side of Ashkum. Route description Th ...

Defunct highways

* Illinois Route 174 * Illinois Route 175

Airports

* General Wayne A. Downing Peoria International Airport (PIA), formerly Greater Peoria Regional Airport *

Mount Hawley Auxiliary Airport Mount Hawley Auxiliary Airport is a public use airport located seven nautical miles (13 km) north of the central business district of Peoria, a city in Peoria County, Illinois, United States. It is owned by the Greater Peoria Airport Auth ...

(3MY) – Peoria, Illinois

Demographics

As of the 2020 United States Census, there were 181,830 people, including 73,253 households. The population density was . There were 83,034 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 73.5% white alone, 18.8% black or African American alone, 4.1% Asian alone, 0.4% American Indian alone, .1% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone, 3.1% listed two or more races, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, and 69.4% were white and not of Hispanic or Latino origin. In terms of ancestry, per the 2010 US Census, 28.3% were

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

, 14.8% were Irish, 10.4% were

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

, and 5.5% were

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

. Of the 75,793 households, 30.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 44.1% were married couples living together, 14.1% had a female householder with no husband present, 37.7% were non-families, and 31.0% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.39 and the average family size was 3.00. The median age was 36.8 years. The median income for a household in the county was $49,747 and the median income for a family was $63,163. Males had a median income of $51,246 versus $32,881 for females. The per capita income for the county was $28,157. About 10.3% of families and 14.5% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 21.8% of those under age 18 and 7.8% of those age 65 or over.

Points of interest

* Glasford crater *

Jubilee College State Park Jubilee College State Park is an Illinois state park located west of Peoria, Illinois. It contains Jubilee College State Historic Site, a frontier Illinois college active from 1840 to 1862. The entire Jubilee College site is still owned by the ...

* WMBD World's Most Beautiful Drive (Grandview Drive/Prospect) * Forest Park Nature Center * Peoria Heights Tower Park * Rock Island Trail

Communities

Cities

* Chillicothe * Elmwood * Farmington * Pekin * Peoria (seat) * West Peoria

Villages

* Bartonville *

Bellevue Bellevue means "beautiful view" in French. Bellevue or Belle Vue may refer to: Places Australia * Bellevue, Queensland * Bellevue, Western Australia * Bellevue Hill, New South Wales Canada * Bellevue, Alberta * Bellevue, Newfoundlan ...

* Brimfield * Dunlap * Glasford * Hanna City * Kingston Mines * Mapleton * Norwood * Peoria Heights * Princeville

Census-designated places

* Lake Camelot * Mossville *

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

* Smithville * Trivoli

Unincorporated communities

Edelstein Edelstein is the German word for "gemstone". Edelstein is also a surname of German origin which means "noble stone" or in its literal sense "precious stone". Surname: People with this surname include: * Arnold Edelstein, Austrian-American cartoo ...

* Edwards *

Kickapoo The Kickapoo people (; Kickapoo: Kiikaapoa or Kiikaapoi; ) are an Algonquian-speaking Native American tribe and Indigenous people in Mexico, originating in the region south of the Great Lakes. There are three federally recognized Kickapoo trib ...

* Laura * Mossville

Townships

The cities of Peoria and West Peoria are considered independent from all of the townships within this county. *

Akron Akron () is a city in Summit County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the fifth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 190,469 at the 2020 census. The Akron metropolitan area, covering Summit and Portage counties, had ...

* Brimfield * Chillicothe * Elmwood * Hallock * Hollis *

Jubilee A jubilee is often used to refer to the celebration of a particular anniversary of an event, usually denoting the 25th, 40th, 50th, 60th, and the 70th anniversary. The term comes from the Hebrew Bible (see, "Old Testament"), initially concerning ...

Limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

Logan Logan may refer to: Places * Mount Logan (disambiguation) Australia * Logan (Queensland electoral district), an electoral district in the Queensland Legislative Assembly * Logan, Victoria, small locality near St. Arnaud * Logan City, local gove ...

Medina Medina, officially al-Madinah al-Munawwarah (, ), also known as Taybah () and known in pre-Islamic times as Yathrib (), is the capital of Medina Province (Saudi Arabia), Medina Province in the Hejaz region of western Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, ...

* Millbrook * Princeville * Radnor * Richwoods * Rosefield *

Timber Lumber is wood that has been processed into uniform and useful sizes (dimensional lumber), including beams and planks or boards. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, window frames). ...

* Trivoli * West Peoria (former, now defunct and part of West Peoria)

School districts

Notable residents

People from Peoria County other than in the city of Peoria: * Chris Brackett, host of ''Arrow Affliction'' on

The Sportsman Channel Sportsman Channel is an American sports-oriented digital cable and satellite television network owned by the Outdoor Sportsman Group subsidiary of Kroenke Sports & Entertainment. The channel is dedicated to programming about outdoor sports, inclu ...

* Mike Dunne, pitcher for several

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

teams *

Mary Emma Holmes Mary Emma Holmes (, Smith; August 3, 1839 – May 18, 1937) was an American reformer, suffragist, and educator. She was the president of the Equal Suffrage Association of Illinois, and she represented the National American Suffrage Associati ...

(1839-1937), reformer, suffragist, and educator *

Bill Krieg William Frederick Krieg (January 29, 1859 – March 25. 1930) was a Major League Baseball player from 1884 to 1887.

, Major League Baseball player * Lance (Henry) LeGault, TV and movie actor: Colonel Roderick Decker on ''

The A-Team ''The A-Team'' is an American Action television, action television series that ran on NBC from January 23, 1983, to March 8, 1987, about a fictional team of former United States Army Special Forces who work as mercenaries while on the run from ...

'' * Zach McAllister, Major League Baseball player: Cleveland Indians pitcher *

Johnston McCulley John William Johnston McCulley (February 2, 1883 – November 23, 1958) was an American writer of hundreds of stories, fifty novels and numerous screenplays for film and television, and the creator of the character Zorro. Biography Born i ...

pulp fiction ''Pulp Fiction'' is a 1994 American independent crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino from a story he conceived with Roger Avary.See, e.g., King (2002), pp. 185–7; ; It tells four intertwining tales of crime and violence ...

author: creator of

Zorro Zorro ( or , Spanish for "fox") is a fictional character created in 1919 by American Pulp magazine, pulp writer Johnston McCulley, appearing in works set in the Pueblo de Los Ángeles in Alta California. He is typically portrayed as a dashin ...

Richard Pryor Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor Sr. (December 1, 1940 – December 10, 2005) was an American stand-up comedian and actor. Known for reaching a broad audience with his trenchant observations and storytelling style, he is widely regarded ...

, Actor, Comedian *

David Ogden Stiers David Allen Ogden Stiers ( ; October 31, 1942 – March 3, 2018) was an American actor and conductor. He appeared in numerous productions on Broadway, and originated the role of Feldman in '' The Magic Show'', in 1974. In 1977, Stiers was cast ...

, actor, Major Charles Emerson Winchester III on ''

M*A*S*H ''M*A*S*H'' (an acronym for Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) is an American media franchise consisting of a series of novels, a film, several television series, plays, and other properties, and based on the semi-autobiographical fiction of Richa ...

'' *

Josh Taylor Josh or Joshua Taylor may refer to: * Josh Taylor (actor) (born 1943), American comedy and dramatic television actor * Josh Taylor (baseball) (born 1993), American professional baseball pitcher * Josh Taylor (boxer) (born 1991), Scottish professi ...

, TV actor: Chris Kostichek on the soap opera ''

Days of Our Lives ''Days of Our Lives'' (also stylized as ''Days of our Lives''; simply referred to as ''Days'' or ''DOOL'') is an American television soap opera that aired on the network NBC from November 8, 1965, to September 9, 2022; the soap has streamed n ...

'' *

Jim Thome James Howard Thome (; ; born August 27, 1970) is an American former professional baseball first baseman, third baseman and designated hitter, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for 22 seasons (1991–2012). A prolific power hitter, Thome ...

, first baseman for several

teams

Government

Peoria County is governed by an 18-member County Board which meets on the second Thursday of each month. Each member represents a district with roughly 10,000 residents. The County also elects an Auditor, Circuit Clerk, Coroner, County Clerk, Sheriff, State's Attorney, Regional Superintendent (Education), and Treasurer to four-year terms.

Politics

Prior to 1992, Peoria County, like most of central Illinois, was powerfully Republican. Usually, it only voted for Democratic Party presidential candidates when they won nationally by a landslide. It began trending away from the GOP in the mid-1980s, as evidenced when

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

only carried it with 55 percent of the vote in 1984 even as he was winning reelection in a landslide nationally. From 1992 onward, the county has backed the Democratic candidate in every presidential election, though never by a margin greater than 10 percent aside from 2008 when Illinoisan

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

won it by nearly 14 points. This relative closeness in results was most evident in 2004 when the county backed

John Kerry John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician, and diplomat who served as the 68th United States secretary of state from 2013 to 2017 in the Presidency of Barack Obama#Administration, administration of Barac ...

over

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

by only 70 votes. In Congress, Peoria County is represented by Democrat Eric Sorensen of

Illinois's 17th congressional district The 17th congressional district of Illinois is represented by Democrat Eric Sorensen (politician), Eric Sorensen. It includes most of the northwestern portion of the state, with most of its population living on the Illinois side of the Quad Citi ...

and Republican

Darin LaHood Darin McKay LaHood ( ; born July 5, 1968) is an American attorney and politician who has served as a U.S. representative from Illinois since 2015. A member of the Republican Party, LaHood has represented the 16th district since 2023, and previo ...

of the

Illinois's 18th congressional district The 18th congressional district of Illinois covered central and western Illinois, including all of Jacksonville, Illinois, Jacksonville and Quincy, Illinois, Quincy and parts of Bloomington, Illinois, Bloomington, Peoria, Illinois, Peoria, and ...

. In the

Illinois Senate The Illinois Senate is the upper chamber of the Illinois General Assembly, the legislative branch of the government of the State of Illinois in the United States. The body was created by the first state constitution adopted in 1818. Under the ...

, Peoria County is represented by Republican Win Stoller of the 37th Legislative District and Democrat

Dave Koehler David Koehler (born December 16, 1948) is a Democratic politician from Illinois, and has been the Illinois State Senator from 46th Legislative District since December 2006. The district includes parts of Peoria, Tazewell, Woodford, and McLean ...

of the 46th Legislative District. In the

Illinois House of Representatives The Illinois House of Representatives is the lower house of the Illinois General Assembly. The body was created by the first Illinois Constitution adopted in 1818. The House under the constitution as amended in 1980 consists of 118 representativ ...

, Peoria County is represented by Republican Ryan Spain of the 73rd Representative District, Republican Travis Weaver of the 91st Representative District and Democrat Jehan Gordon-Booth of the 92nd Representative District.

Education

K-12 school districts include:
Text list
/ref> * Brimfield Community Unit School District 309 * Dunlap Community Unit School District 323 * Elmwood Community Unit School District 322 *

Farmington Central Community Unit School District 265 Farmington may refer to: Places Canada *Farmington, British Columbia * Farmington, Nova Scotia (disambiguation) United States *Farmington, Arkansas *Farmington, California *Farmington, Connecticut *Farmington, Delaware * Farmington, Georgia * ...

* Illini Bluffs Community Unit School District 327 *

Illinois Valley Central Unit School District 321 Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

Peoria School District 150 Peoria Public Schools District 150, also known as Peoria Public Schools (PPS), is a school district headquartered in Peoria, Illinois. The district is in Peoria County. It includes most of Peoria, as well as much of West Peoria and sections of ...

* Peoria Heights Community Unit School District 325 * Princeville Community Unit School District 326 * Stark County Community Unit School District 100 * Williamsfield Community Unit School District 210 Secondary school districts include: *

Limestone Community High School District 310 Limestone Community High School is a public high school in Bartonville, Peoria County, Illinois. , the school had an average enrollment of 867 students and average full-time equivalent of 70 teachers. Limestone Community High School is the on ...

Elementary school districts include: * Bartonville School District 66 * Hollis Consolidated School District 328 * Limestone Walters Community Consolidated School District 316 * Monroe School District 70 * Norwood Elementary School District 63 * Oak Grove School District 68 * Pleasant Hill School District 69 *

Pleasant Valley School District 62 Something pleasant may have associations with happiness, entertainment, enjoyment, ecstasy, or euphoria. Pleasant may refer to: * Pleasure, experience that feels good, that involves the enjoyment of something * Positive affectivity, a human chara ...

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1825 establishments in Illinois Illinois counties Illinois placenames of Native American origin Peoria metropolitan area, Illinois Populated places established in 1825